OK, Barnes Wallis, an engineer, but who designed geometric aircraft (Weslley, Wellington, Warwick), but is most famous for the 'bouncing bomb' the Upkeep bomb. I've been to his design studio, at, oh, I can't remember the museum (it's a WWII airfield), in Yorkshire. Certainly, in the 1950's the film based on Paul Brickhill's book 'The Dam Busters' mentions his design studio. Funny, I would have thought the design studio was elsewhere (unless it's a reproduction).
They're remaking the Dam Busters film, I wonder if they will still call the dog 'Nigger', the code-word for the operation, or will they change it. I guess to be PC, they might need to have female crewmembers too! Hmmm, history, it's as much as reflection of today, as my history teacher sort of said once.
Great idea though, the geometric. Wellington's were probably the only bomber to be used the entire war period, and for significant periods before and after too. Their ability to sustain damage was legendary.
Edited to add:
Oh, he began his work at Vicker's by designing airships. His most famous one was the R100. In the 1920's the new socalist government of Britain decided to prove that socialism could beat capitalism, that public enterprise was better than private enterprise. To do this, and to gain a lead in world technology, a great competition was announced. A private team, and a public team would both design an airship, to bring the Empire together. The private team ran on a shoe-string, whilst the public team was given as much money as it needed, to prove that the public airship was better. They also had as much public interference in their work as one could dream of, such as not allowing them the superior German engines they wanted, or to delay launch to fix problems. The private team, with Barnes Wallis, could do what they liked, within their narrow budget.
Wallis's R100 was given the inferior route of London to New York, whilst the R101, the public airship, had the superior route of London to Delhi (how times have changed!). The R100 made the trip, albeit with problems. The R101 crashed in France, killing most of the people on board. The government, embaressed by the failure of public enterprise to beat private, despite the vast sums spent, had the R100 destroyed, and that was the end of the British airship industry.